Home Garden

List of Different Ways of Anchoring a Retaining Wall

Retaining walls are used to transform sloped ground into a series of flat areas that are more useful for gardening, recreation or construction. Because retaining walls typically hold back earth that weighs many tons, they must be built very sturdily and anchored well so they don't move or collapse. The best method of anchoring a retaining wall depends on its size and the materials of which it is made.

  1. Angle

    • A retaining wall can act as its own anchor when it is positioned to cooperate with gravity rather than to fight against it. If an anchor wall is perfectly vertical, it will be subject to the lateral pressure of the earth and fill behind it. Even worse, if it is leaning away from what's behind it, it will be unstable and subject to collapse. A retaining wall that is angled towards the material that it is retaining will exert counterpressure, and will be made stronger by gravity. When the two forces of the wall and the earth it is retaining are equalized, a stable equilibrium results.

    Beams

    • Some retaining walls are made out of logs, railroad ties or large beams. These materials can be used for anchors as well as for the material of the wall itself. As the wall is being built and the fill behind it is being added, you can include beams that are locked into the wall but that extend back into the fill, running perpendicular to the direction of the wall. If these beams are included at various points and heights in the wall, added as the fill is being added, they will be buried within the fill, and will help to secure the wall in position and prevent movement.

    Stone

    • Stone retaining walls tend to be very stable because of their tremendous weight. They can be strengthened further by anchoring them into the ground using long stones that are directed back into the fill, in the same way as the beams in Section 2. Most of the stones in a stone retaining wall will have their long dimensions oriented along the wall, but a few stones in each course can be laid perpendicularly to help tie the wall and the fill together.

    Rebar

    • Steel rebar can be used to anchor many types of retaining walls, including concrete, brick, stone and wood. Although rebar is designed to be embedded within concrete during construction, it can be used for many other purposes as well. The advantage of using rebar as an anchor is that its length can tie the wall very far back into the fill. Bending the rebar to create an L shape increases its resistance to being pulled out of the fill, further strengthening the wall that it is anchoring.